About Me

I am all over the map

This is me walking around Bull Run National Battlefield in the rain.

I have a lot of interests, and write books about a number of them. I hope you don't mind.

I've written books since I was a little girl. I used to make books in Mrs. Roger's third-grade class, when I'd fold a piece of paper into a 2-inch square, staple one side, then cut the pages apart and write the story and draw the pictures. Then Mrs. Rogers would say, "Mindy, get back to work!" and I would quickly put my book away and get back to my math lesson. I'm still not much good in math.

I got my bachelor's degree in Horticulture, then earned my Master’s in Writing for Children from Hamline University, where I worked with some great writers, including Gary Schmidt, Marsha Chall, Jane Resh Thomas, and Mary Logue. My fiction and articles have appeared in Cricket, Highlights, and The Horn Book, as well as Organic Gardening, Birds and Blooms, and Grit.

I’m a former horticulturist turned proofreader, a chicken wrangler, small-time naturalist. If I were a bird I would probably be a nuthatch. No specific reason, I just really get a kick out of nuthatches.

This is me when I was the horticulturist for the St. Joseph Parks and Rec Department, lying down in front of the fan to cool off. The dog's name was Marcus -- I wrote a short story about him in my book Fifteen Inches Tall and Bulletproof because he was the best damn dog in the world.

Subscribe to my newsletter!

Sign up for free books, cheap books, book announcements, and general book goodies.